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Stories
on A String
This
was
the name given to the series of puppet shows developed for
the 2004 Artist in Residence at the Midtown
Public Market at Lake St and 22nd Ave So in Minneapolis
by Kari Tauring and Anne Sawyer-Aitch.
The name comes from the Brazilian traditon of "Literatura
de Cordel" which Anne had studied in Brazil. Little chap
books were developed and sold as part of this program. The
songs and stories were written for an open air market experience
though were adapted for stage and intimate settings as well.
The experience of the open air market
performance was fascinating.
Kari
Tauring, Interdisciplinary Artist, wrote and performed
the opereta style scripts to two shows titled "Imani
and the Magical Bird" and "Imani and the Peddler."
The third show was based on an early American folk song
entitled "What Love Can Do." A third Imani show
was created and all the shows were recorded and are available
on CD. An excerpt from the third Imani show, "Imani
and the Fearful Noise" debuted as part of the Discovering
Origins/Building Traditions Show "Crossing
the River" 2005.
Anne
Sawyer-Aitch, local Minneapolis Puppeteer and performance
artist created original puppets for the shows. The Imani puppets
were a variety of papier mache', finger puppets, and a delightful
cranky showing the journey of Imani to the market. Her interpretation
of "What Love Can Do" was a brilliant shadow puppet
show. Jemiah Aitch must also be given many thanks for
his help in technical design and set-up each Saturday Morning
(and for keeping the puppet van running!)
Artist
Website.
Gabrielle
Robinson-Busjek, performance artist, helped create the
puppets and performed in the series. She was faithfully available
every Saturday Morning at 7 am for this series (and that's
a lot to ask of a teenager!) Gabrielle can also be found hanging
from the Spanish Web at Circus Juventas in St. Paul.
Maren
Amdal, (Bio) performance artist
and vocalist, Maren played many of the roles in the Imani
shows and contributed her talents and ideas to their creation
and development. Artist
Website.
Besides
the Farmer's Market, the Imani Series was performed in
a variety of venues such as:
Goddess
Night, Minneapolis
In
the Heart
of the Beast Puppet and Mask Theater's Saturday Series
Hiawatha and Keewaydin Community Schools, Minneapolis Public
Schools
Entertainment
for Corporate Party
Cedar
Cultural Center for "Connected at the Core" a Discovering
Origins/Building Traditions Ritual Show. DOBT
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